Easter Sunday

Our family celebrated a wonderful Easter, complete with all the traditions we have come to cherish. Our day started around 4:45 a.m., as we rose early and attended a 6:00 Sunrise Service at the Brocton Christian Church, where we used to attend before we moved, and where Dan's parents still attend. It was a beautiful service, with breakfast served afterwards. It was nice to see our church family from Brocton again.

Then we came back to Chrisman and spent a little time at home before the 9:00 service at our church. The kids peeked in their Easter baskets and had ONE piece of candy. After church, we were off to Newman to see my grandma so she could take a quick picture of the kids all dressed up and so Dan could carry her noodles out to her car for her. Her noodles are the highlight of every Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Yum.

Next we stop at my parents' house for more pictures and to change into play clothes.

All my kids in their Easter best. We were especially blessed to have Michael home one more time before he deploys to Iraq.

We are very deliberate in emphasizing with the kids the real reason we celebrate Easter--the resurrection of Jesus. Still, it's hard not to get excited about Reeses' Peanut Butter Eggs.

After we stop in Newman, we are off again to my aunt's house for a big family dinner complete with ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, noodles, and an array of salads and desserts. By now, I am completely worn out, but we still haven't had the egg hunt...

Eleanor had her "Mikey" as her assistant this year. The kids had a great time with their cousins, ate way too much candy, and were ready to crash by 7:00 that night (so was I). It really was a wonderful day.

I think as I get older, our traditional family celebrations mean more and more to me, not just because of the fun we have and the love we share, but especially because each year I am more humbled by what the holidays mean for us. Without the Resurrection, there would never be a reason to celebrate anything. We would be utterly without hope. But because He died and lives again, we have every reason to celebrate, in fact we must celebrate! "I tell you," he answered "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out!" Luke 19:40

Easter fun

Early last week, the kids and I colored eggs. Since no one in our family is partial to hard-boiled eggs, we just color them uncooked and use them for breakfast, baking...whatever. Our family eats a lot of eggs, so we go through them fairly quickly.

Using uncooked eggs does add an additional element of potential mess, but they were very careful, and not a single egg was dropped or broken.

Some of their favorites.

Breakfast has been very festive around here this week!

Happy Easter everyone!

Our resident musicians

We have several aspiring pianists in our home. Here is a sampling of what our home sounds like on any given day...



Of course, after several times of trying to play it perfectly, the time he gets it is also when his little sister decided to ramp a matchbox car of the edge of the piano. Oh well.











And last, but not least:



What she lacks in technique, she more than makes up for in charm!

Happy Birthday, Mackenzie!!

Mackenzie turned ten in February. It was a pretty big deal, because other than being in double digits, in the Krabel household, girls may have their ears pierced for their 10th birthday. That is something she's been wanting for a long time.

Here we are at Starbucks after getting her ears done. She was a little nervous, but said it wasn't as bad as she was afraid it would be. We had a really nice day hanging out at the mall. It's not very often that we get to spend time together with just the two of us.

A couple of weeks later, we had her party with family and friends. She wanted a horse theme (no surprise). I found a horseshoe shaped cake pan, so we had one chocolate horseshoe and one lemon. She got lots of horse-themed gifts for her room, too. She was a happy girl.

Georgia Aquarium

On our way back from Ft. Benning, we stopped in Atlanta for a couple of nights and stayed with one of my cousins who lives there with her family. It was wonderful to see them, and we thoroughly enjoyed their hospitality.

While we were there, we took a trip to the Georgia Aquarium, which was amazing. Elijah was particularly excited because he is absolutely crazy about sea life and especially sharks. I think I enjoyed watching him almost as much as I enjoyed the exhibits!

Here is Elijah, all ready to see the aquarium with his shark sunglasses, shark T-shirt and shark backpack, filled with every book he owns about sharks (just in case he needs to do a little research while he's there, I guess!)

Looking up in the Ocean Voyager exhibit- a large clear tunnel surrounded by water. It feels like you're waling along the ocean floor. Very neat.

Shark and ray touch tank. It was harder to touch them than you might think, but he managed to brush a small hammerhead.

Uchee Creek

When we were at Ft. Benning, we stayed at the nicest resort area on the backside of the base. It is called Uchee Creek, and it is part of the Army MRW (morale, recreation & welfare, I think) program. We had a lake cabin with two bedrooms downstairs and a loft with two sets of bunkbeds, a full kitchen and living room area with cable TV, a huge deck with a swing, and a gorgeous view of the Chatahoochee River. I could have lived there!

The view from our deck. I could look at this every morning.

There were only two downsides. First, we were so busy doing things with Michael that we really didn't have time to enjoy it. Secondly, there was this sign just before the driveway to our cabin...

Excuse me? Alligators?

From my valentine...

Peach roses are my favorite.
I am married to the most wonderful man.
Happy Valentine's Day!